Numbers don’t matter, but quality. There assembled on Mount Carmel four hundred and fifty prophets of the false god, Baal. They were no ordinary prophets, but a privileged class having permission to eat at Jezebel’s table (1 Kings 18:19). This woman, Jezebel, who was the consort of King Ahab, despised the true God to the core and had already killed many of God’s prophets [1 Kings 18:13].
On the other side stood a man, frail and lonely. It was Prophet Elijah. In between stood all the Israelites, but when Elijah asked them about their loyalty to God, ‘they did not answer him a word’ [1 Kings 18:21]. So Elijah was alone. But God was with him. And he defeated all those false prophets in a public display of praise and worship [1 Kings 18:20-21]. Having achieved such a big feat, one would expect Elijah to be in high spirits, free from danger and elated. But it was not so. He felt lonely because all other true prophets were already killed.
‘ I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away’ [1 Kings 19:10]. In fact he was fleeing from Carmel to save his life [1 Kings 19:3]. But God intervened and consoled him by saying; ‘I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him’ [1 Kings 19:18]. But Elijah was not aware of the existence of this remnant in Israel, nor did he see any from the remnant in his long journey from Carmel to Horeb, which lasted forty one days [1 Kings 19:1-8]. Selection of the remnant is a work of grace and finding those who belong to the remnant is again a work of grace.
Paul the apostle elaborates on this point when he says that such a remnant remains there at all times. ‘So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace’ [Rom 11:5]. Paul underlines the fact that the selection to this elite group is a work of grace.
We should believe the words of God, that this remnant remains even today and it will survive to the end. They will never bow to false gods or ideologies, money, power, or pleasures of this world. They will worship the true God only. Do we belong to that remnant? It is a pertinent question. Equally important is to know whether we could find some others around us who are also part of the remnant? Because time has come to gather God’s chosen people from east and west and north and south. It is our hope and expectation that grace will bring all of them together. In an otherwise dull and godless world, this remnant should act as its light and as salt to an earth defiled by the sins of mankind. So it is essential that this remnant should survive till the end. St Pope Paul VI wrote in 1977; ‘It is essential that a little flock, however small it be, should remain to the end.’
Acknowledging that the presence of this remnant is essential till the time of the consummation of everything, let us pray for the grace to be counted among this chosen group of the remnant.
